BY JOSH ABEL

In print | Published April 10, 2008

Swarthmore’s men’s tennis (3-7, 3-1 CC) team went on the road over the weekend for a pair of difficult matches. On Saturday they lost 9-0 to the University of Mary Washington, ranked 11th in the nation, and on Sunday they lost a tight match 6-3 to Washington College.

The loss to the powerful Mary Washington team was not the blowout the 9-0 score might indicate. Jonathan Lo ’08 and Kevin Shaugnessy ’09 lost their eight-game pro set at first doubles 9-7. Lo then lost in three sets at first singles, 2-6, 6-3, 3-6. JJ England ’09 and Justin DiFeliciantonio ’10 also lost tight matches at third and sixth singles, respectively.

Sunday’s match was a much tighter affair. After dropping two of the three doubles matches, the Garnet came out strong in the singles competition. With Mary Washington earning victories at first and fifth singles in two sets and DiFeliciantonio winning at sixth singles after just winning the first set (his opponent retired when trailing 2-0 in the second set), the match was set to be determined by second, third and fourth singles, all of which split the first two sets.

However, according to Centennial Conference rules, there are not to be any third sets in matches played indoors. Instead, the matches are to be determined by super tiebreaks, where the first player to ten points wins. Shaughnessy won his second match of the day (he had also won with Lo at first doubles), emphatically winning 10-2 at second singles. However, Mark Wee ’11 and England each lost 10-7 at third and fourth singles, respectively. These narrow defeats gave Washington the 6-3 win.

“The Washington match turned on just a few points in the super tiebreaks for the third sets,” Coach Jason Box said. “We had done a good job of fighting back at #2, #3 and #4 singles to get them to a 3rd set, but when you only play a super tiebreak to decide a match, anything can happen.”

The loss to Washington was the Garnet’s first Conference loss of the season, dropping their record to 3-1. However, the loss did little to dampen the team’s optimism, as Box said, “I think the main thing we can take away from the Washington match is the excitement of knowing we will most likely get to play them again in the conference tournament on a neutral court and this time we will be ready for them.”

The men’s team is very busy from here on. Starting Saturday, they will play five matches over the course of eight days, including four Conference matches.

“We have a tough stretch,” Box said. “But I think the guys will be up for it.”

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